Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, the Last Airbender, or any of its characters, except for the kids I made up. I own them, for sure.

Mika: I still don't understand why you killed off my family. That's not nice of you...aren't you supposed to be like my role model or something?

Me: You know what Mika? I'm tired of arguing with you :pulls out masking tape:

Mika: No! I'll be good.

Me: I thought so. OK, special shout out here to my reviewers: Thanks for all the reviews. My Avatar fics are way more popular than my Titan fics...it's understandable.

Chapter 11: Shan-Yu

Mika and Sokka hurried, throwing the rest of the sleeping bags on a very tired Appa. Aang and Katara were still sleepy, barely moving despite the threat.

"Hello Avatar," said a deep voice from behind them.

Aang and Katara spun around, but Mika and Sokka stayed out of view behind Appa. Sokka immediatly recognized the voice as Zuko's.

"Good morning," Zuko said to Aang, who had pulled out his staff and tightened his fists.

Zuko, as Katara noticed, was alone. It was strange, and obviously he had the place surrounded. Katara grimaced her teeth. If only they were closer to the water...

Zuko struck, fire blasting from his palms with each move he took. Aang dodged each, and when he couldn't dodge the fire, he put it out with air.

Katara pulled the rest of their things and threw them on Appa's back, reaching over the other side for Mika's hand.

"Stay low," she whispered as Mika was pulled up.

A tall string of flame passed Mika's flatened ear, and she turned around to find 4 masked soldiers. All of them part of Zuko's fleet.

Mika tried to flatten her ears, thankful only that her wings were hidden under her wet cloak. Maybe the white color of her ears would mix in with her hair...

She stumbled up to Appa's back, her body lying low, her ears lower. "Stay down," Katara ordered as she rumaged threw one of the back packs. When she found what she was looking for, she gave it to Mika.

It was a flat, pointed hat that Aang and Sokka had picked up when they had tried to save the Earth Kingdom village so long ago. Mika smiled slightly and put the hat on, nodding in Katara's direction as they jumped off of Appa's back.

Sokka wanted to stop them, but it wouldn't even be worth it. He knew his sister better than anyone did. Without thinking he pulled out his club and joined Aang.

Mika turned out to be a fine fighter without using her Fire Bending, aiding Katara whenever she could they managed to take down 2 of the soldiers, only resulting in a slight burn right under Mika's left cheek.

Problems arose when Mika ran out of breath, her lungs longing for the touch of fire, and when more soldiers emerged from the trees.

"I can't take them," she said to Katara as they fought, a soldier throwing a punch in Mika's direction.

"Don't--"

But Katara was too late, almost instantly flames blasted from Mika's ankles and wrists, hitting the soldiers square in the middle of their masks. They flew backwards and Mika stopped abrubtly, climbing onto Appa's back. Sokka, Aang and Katara joined her.

"Yip yip!" Aang called out to Appa. The beast took flight, leaving a very a angry Zuko and a weakened army behind.

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There was silence on their trip, Mika rubbing the burn under her eye, deep and ablaze with pain, raw from burn. She winced at the thought of the Fire Bender moving past her, his hands on fire, right past her cheek...

"They'll catch up," Sokka said quickly. "We have to find shelter or something..."

"It's no use landing," Katara reasoned. "They'll catch us on foot if we do."

They began to argue like brothers and sisters do. Mika glanced at them, then to Aang, then to her lap. "Do they always argue like this?" She asked Aang, looking right threw him to the gray clouds.

"Usually," Aang answered, not really listening to whatever Sokka and Katara were arguing about. "Not always though."

Mika nodded and continued staring at her lap, her eyes heavy with sleep. The Fire Benders' attack had taken energy from her, and when she had blasted them with fire, she was almost sure she had blasted her cover along with it.

"Why don't we just land in Shan-Yu?" Mika offered. "It's only about a mile from here and the river doesn't run through it. The Fire Benders won't be able to catch up with us."

Katara and Sokka stopped their bickering, both turning around to face Mika.

"We can do that," Katara said, thinking about the decision. "If the river doesn't run through..."

Sokka nodded and jumped onto Appa's head, directing the bison to Shan-Yu.